The Great Gatsby. (12A.) Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Egerton, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki. 143 minsAlarmingly the film Luhrmann’ Gatsby most closely resembles is
notorious British flop Absolute Beginners – it is gaudy and exuberant, everything
pumped up to bursting point, filled with anachronistic flourishes and visual
conceits that should be boldly beautiful yet sit just there on the screen
looking sheepish and exposed. It isn’t directed it’s choreographed. Gatsby’s
enormous parties are packed to bursting and look like no fun at all. There’s a
horrible moment when three servants pull back three large curtains at exactly
the same time and it seems as if Luhrmann is determined to squeeze any sense life
out of the movie.

But somewhere in this cacophony there is a Gatsby, not a great
one but a decent one and possibly as good as could be hoped for. Although it is
frequently filmed Fitzgerald’s glorious prose doesn’t offer up much to the film
maker. Lines that glide off the page clump awkwardly out of actors’ mouths when
turned into dialogue. The “such beautiful shirts” line has to be included but
only after the narrator Nick Carroway (Maguire) has set up its significance in
the voiceover.
It does have great characters and the film has the cast to
do them justice. Maguire is a natural narrator - he has the face for it.
Generally the females fare less well but unknown Debicki makes a great Jordan
Baker, even if the role has been significantly reduced.
But it is DiCaprio that makes it work; he is a perfect
Gatsby. Often after seeing a film version, readers find themselves visualising
the actors rather than the characters as described by the author. Rereading it earlier
this year I found myself hearing every line spoken in what I imagined to be
DiCaprio’s interpretation. His Gatsby is like a fond reminiscence of JFK but
with just the right amounts of deceit and menace hidden beneath that hopeful
glow. Over the last decade DiCaprio has been the steadiest and most reliable of
Hollywood leading men, but rarely exciting. Here he beats back against the
current to recapture just a snatch of his fearless pre-Titanic sparkle.